PHILLYmediaWATCH

Friday, August 23, 2013

Some anchor changes are on tap at channels 10 and 3 next month. The big "get" is at 10 where Jim Rosenfield takes the main anchor seat on the 5, 6 and 11 weeknight broadcasts. Rosenfield arrives from D.C. powerhouse WRC-TV where he will be paired with Jacqueline London and Renee Chenault Fattah. Rosenfield has also anchored in New York and Chicago and the anticipation is that he brings an extensive news experience to the table. In the weather department Michelle Grossman departs, giving way to newcomer Tedd Florendo. Florendo worked previously at Las Vegas' KLAS-TV as a reporter, anchor and weather presenter.
Meanwhile, at Channel 3, Jessica Dean joins Chris May on the anchor desk. Dean replaces the departed Susan Barnett who chose to depart a few months ago. Dean comes to Philadelphia from Little Rock's KARK-TV where she anchored. Prior, she reported and anchored at KATV.
At FOX29, new-hire Chris Murphy joins Good Day Philadelphia's early team where he will anchor the 4:25 to 6 a.m. segment. Murphy anchored weekends in San Diego.

Monday, August 5, 2013

6ABC's ACTION NEWS reporter, Dann Cuellar, has been off the airwaves of late. Dann's wife of 32 years, Marilyn, passed away Thursday July 25th at Taylor Hospice after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was 60 years old. Marilyn is survived by a son and two daughters, a grandson; and a nephew. I send my condolences to Dann and his family.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

****NBC10's Michelle Grossman is back from her maternity leave. With that return made for the departure of Dave Warren whose last broadcast was Sunday March 3rd. Warren continues to tweet weather and is home enjoying life with his wife and twins. Dave Warren joined NBC10 as a weekend meteorologist and weather producer in April 2003. Prior to joining NBC10, Warren was chief meteorologist at KPAX-TV in Missoula, Montana.
****February 25th was the debut of NBC10's newest newsgathering tool to its arsenal, SKYFORCE 10. The Bell 206 L-4 chopper flies weekdays during the morning and 4p-5p newscasts. Check it out here-->http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcx98BGkk4
****Jacqueline London joins NBC10 as a weekend anchor and reporter from Orlando, FL. London replaces Aditi Roy, bound for marriage in Los Angeles.
****Iain Page joined FOX29 as anchor of the 5p newscast. This puts Thomas Drayton on the 6p newscast. Page came from Houston's KPRC-TV.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Sources say most of the on-air talent at Tango Traffic have been kicked to the curb in a financial reorganization. Tango Traffic debuted January 1, 2011 on WPHL-TV digital 2 to become the country's first 24/7 network devoted to traffic.
Vittoria Woodill, former 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. anchor, confirms her layoff on her Facebook page as well as her "lifestyle confidence blog" polishedforpennies. An excerpt of her January 24 2013 writing: "I’m going to start this post with this… Business is Business. If you’ve learned this or not, unfortunately, business can be a bit heartless. Not at times the reflection of the company, but the current “times”. My dad told me that a long time ago, and for any GREAT BUSINESS to succeed it comes with making TOUGH decisions. Laying people off is a tough decision, but sometimes that’s what has to be done for the betterment of a product to succeed, to deal with economic changes, yada yada. You can agree with me on that or not, but that’s how I see it and how I feel. With that said there are NO hard feelings in this post… It’s just another chapter of the story."
Others let go include Stephanie Humphrey, Woodill's former co-anchor. Humphrey freelanced at KYW "Eyewitness News" as back-up traffic anchor for Bob Kelly prior to joining Tango Traffic.
Morning guy, Jason Lee, remains on board, I'm told. Going forward, the station plans to air with voiceovers till further notice.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

CBS 3's Anne-Marie Greene heads to New York to anchor CBS "Up To The Minute" and "CBS Morning News". She starts at CBS News tomorrow, January 21st. Greene came to CBS 3 in 2004 and reported for "Eyewitness News" as well as anchored for the weekend broadcasts. She is a native of Toronto where she began her career. Green will definitely be New York's gain and Philadelphia's loss.

Monday, December 17, 2012

NBC10 News Director Anzio Williams is under the microscope of NBC management to bring more viewers to the NBC10 newscasts. Former News Director Chris Blackman was sent walking six months ago followed by Assistant News Director Dave Parker.
Now, changes have begun to effect on-air talent as Williams begins to weed out some in the newsroom. Long-time anchor Tim Lake was let go December 7th after his last on-air appearance that night. He had been at CAU for over eleven years. Now, Dawn Timmeney has also been shown the door this past Friday. Word has it that the next individual will be weather guy Dave Warren. An announcement has been made of new hire Nefertiti Jaquez joining the team in January. Jaquez comes from Houston where she has spent the last three years. Prior to that she was here--at FOX29. Also coming on board is Meteorologist Brittney Ship from Phoenix. Shipp starts in January as well and is rumored to be Warren's replacement.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Well, here I am! I return with some random observations.
*Tango Traffic continues to be as bad as ever. How this channel remains on-air is beyond me. The "talent", If that is what they're called, is horrible! Only Jason Lee, Rhonda Finkwhitman, Dale Shaw, Robert Block and Stephanie Humphrey would rate as "talent" in my opinion. In watching a "David Itelle" today, this guy attempted to tell his viewers that Wonder Woman is somehow tied to the meaning of Athena! Athena is the name of this first winter storm, as named by the folks at The Weather Channel. TWC announced this past summer their plan to begin naming winter storms this year. Itelle mentioned that "some big name weather types have decided to name this storm because its going to be so bad, and, on the heels of Sandy". His information couldn't have been more wrong. Basically, Wonder Woman has nothing to do with the meaning of "Athena". Rather, "Athena" was the Greek goddess of wisdom, handicrafts and warfare--to name a few. In fairness, a segment later, Itelle corrected himself and stated the accurate meaning of Athena. Gina Gannon who reports weeknights in the 7p-10p timeframe probably has to be their worst on-air type. She stumbles, mumbles and comes across as being totally out of contact with what she's trying to convey.
*The weather folks at "Action News" busted their butts with their nonstop coverage of Storm Sandy throughout the region. Joseph tweets quite often, allowing viewers into a look into his life within and outside of his television life. Joseph tweeted recently that he began a prescheduled move the weekend of Sandy. He had just sold his Manayunk digs after seven years of being a homeowner there. So, on top of storm Sandy's planned "ramped-up coverage", Joseph had total chaos in his new place as well as having to attend a funeral for the passing of a cousin. Joseph and Cecily Tynan put in long hours with Melissa Magee and the news team to provide nonstop storm coverage.
During the height of the storm, Tynan tossed her airtime over to Joseph when he began speaking and realized his microphone was not on. In fumbling for his mic pack, one could hear Tynan offering hers--and saying "more on?" Joseph managed to get his mic turned on, but not before leaving some viewers to think they heard something different. Viewers turned to Twitter and Facebook that Tynan called Joseph a "moron" Jim Gardner set the record straight in the next segment that the Action News family are that. Family. And therefore, would never resort to name calling...something beginning with "M", ending in "N" and "O, R and O" in between! He then laughed, said Tynan and Joseph are best of friends and that Joseph indeed is "a big moron"! Joseph can be found on twitter at @6abcadamjoseph Adam Joseph definitely comes across as very down-to-earth and approachable. He's probably the top tweeter at 6abc making himself available to his viewers.
*Word from former FOX29 weather guy, John Bolaris, tweets that he is now doing weather reports for Howard Stern's satellite radio show. Bolaris tweets local weather information quite often. Bolaris can be found at @johnbolaris Bolaris wasn't successful in finding a weather gig in the Philadelphia market. He is writing a weekly column for The Metro which began last week.
*Online reports indicate former CBS3 "Eyewitness News" anchor Alycia Lane (now anchoring early mornings in Los Angeles) made it known she would have liked to return to a TV gig here! Prior to resigning with her current station in L.A., Lane's agent put the feelers out here on behalf of Lane. Unfortunately for her, there were no takers who could compete with her salary at KNBC. Lane dated Q102 DJ Chris Booker at one time who also relocated to L.A.
*FOX 29's Lauren Cohn, a former reporter/anchor at NBC10, has announced she is leaving FOX once her contract ends. Cohn was once thought to be the replacement for Kerrie Lee Halket's main anchor seat. That, unfortunately, did not come to pass.

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